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Election Results and Interpretation

(Politics II) (India)

Won some, lost us

General Elections 2009 have proven to be baffling to almost all observers. No one had guessed the results as they came in on May 16th. While everyone was waiting for a hung parliament and the outgoing government prepared for a graceful exit, Indian electorates threw up a surprise.

Some people believe that BJP’s strategy to brand Manmohan Singh as the ‘weakest PM ever’ backfired and harmed the goodwill among the electorates. I don’t agree. Even the strongest supporters of Congress would accept that Dr. Singh is merely engaging the chair till the dynastic successor Rahul Gandhi takes it over, and is given full support by the party because he is toothless. But the BJP’s campaign pinched the Congress supporters hard, who in turn took a violent resolve to oppose the BJP all out. As we know, negativity is more immediate and influential on surface than positivism.

2.Congress too old to lead us into future.

Frankly, how many of common Indian electorates really know what could be done to take us into future? Many… But how many care about it? Almost none… In any case, Congress strategy of keeping Rahul Gandhi as the Youth face of the party succeeded. The electorate didn’t care for the old, older, and oldest ministers who actually run the government while the young Congressi faces would only be on the TV. Whether BJP accepts it or not, India sees Congress as a young party.

3.Congress too corrupt to give us a good governance. (Issues like Govt’s manipulation of CBI to get Quattrochi free)

It is sad that the Indian electorate see corruption as a non-issue. The credit goes to Congress of course. While growing up in the license-quota raaj of Nehru days, and then facing day-to-day corruption in all public offices, Indian masses have stopped seeing corruption as an issue. A large proportion of our MPs have criminal backgrounds. People don’t care about what they do for their selfish interests. They would even support a gangster get elect if he builds a public road or clears some pending municipal projects. Harsh reality of great Indian democracy as seeded and cultivated by Congress governments.

4.Congress is communal. (Congress deciding to give tickets to party sponsored anti-Sikh riot accused, and then after a shoe-throwing drama, deciding to take the decision back.)

It seems the Congress hype is working. People have started believing that communalism means pro-Hinduism, and secularism is synonym of minority-appeasement. Since Hindus are so called ‘majority’ in India, they have the luxury not to care much about their future. They don’t care if some Hindu god is insulted, but they will protest if some Christian is not treated well. Some values have gone deep, and some habits formed so rigid…

5.BJP’s support to Varun Gandhi

Well, at the height of the controversy, even the most liberal Hindus used to accept that Varun Gandhi was paying the price for boldly speaking on behalf of Hindus, his comment was not that communal, and most importantly he paid for carrying the same surname as that of the self-certified ‘Gandhis’. No wonder why Varun Gandhi won by about 2.88 Lakh votes! But, the issue was tricky. I believe Varun won because he went from home to home in his constituency and convinced people that he was right and asked for their support. BJP workers didn’t do enough ground work in other parts of India. They watched while our pseudo-secular media went on ranting anti-Varun slogans and demonizing BJP and all pro-Hindu groups. All that the Varun controversy did was to make the Muslims and other minorities unite and vote for Congress. This was not the lone case. In Orissa assembly elections, the prime accused of anti-Chuch riots has won the elections on BJP’s ticket in Kandharmal constituency. The point is clear: doing right doesn’t result in votes if you can’t convince the public that you have done right. But after the elections, the real Congress game plan becomes clear: it wanted to provoke BJP to come to its Hindutva stand – and in turn lose the mass support. People said that the BJP didn’t have any other issue than Hindutva, and moved on. Though this was never the case. The BJP manifesto and poll issues were very apt and good for our nation. If only Congress had allowed us to read and listen to those.

6.Congress is soft on Terrorism.

Terrorism proved to be a non-issue. One, Indians were convinced that terrorism was because of Pakistan and not because of incapable Indian government. There was a sense of pessimism. And then after the Mumbai attacks, Pranab Mukherjee was on a high drive on a verbal confrontation with Pakistan. People said it was enough and so nice thing to do. It is said, all is lost when “hope” is lost. Honestly, some times I suspect the patriotism of our Indian masses, though I am not yet convinced. It was Congress’ decision to divide India falling pray to hard-core Muslim demands, and getting an eternal disease. It was Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru’s imprudent decision to take Kashmir to UNO which is still bleeding us in front of the international community. It was again Nehru’s blind love and trust for China which made us near-mortal in 1962 war. It was Rajiv Gandhi’s imprudent decision to send ‘peace-keeping’ forces to Srilanka which resulted in a permanent souring of neighborhood relations. And it is present Prime Minister’s gentle smiley reactions on terror acts which are still bleeding us here and there. Congress has proven again and again that it has no clear international policy. And combating terrorism is not their cup of tea. But Indian masses didn’t accept this as a poll issue. Is this because India has a only 66% of literacy? No, it is because we have become numb on certain political issues.

7.Rahul Gandhi’s strategy of contesting alone in Bihar and UP

I would say: lucky by chance. The strategy to contest alone was primarily to make sure that the Congress wins more number of seats individually, when compared to BJP, so that it gets the first right to make a government in a hung parliament. Secondly, and more visually, the decision was to break the ego of Lalu Yadav and Paswan. If it was so, then it was a wrong and ego-driven decision. As expected, Congress lost in Bihar, while making sure that its own coalition partners RJD/LJP lose too. In UP, it so happened that people were fed up with the clattered politics of SP and BSP and thought to give Congress better chance. Also, Rahul and his family members had made extensive trips to the state, had touched the humble people and got their votes as a gift. With a loss in Bihar, a victory in UP doesn’t justify the decision as good.

Some issues which actually helped Congress win:

1.Farm loan waivers

Do you know what % of our population depends on agriculture? At least 60%! And you know how much agriculture contributes towards our GDP? Maximum 16%! No doubts, farmers are poor. And it pays for politicians to keep the farmers poor. It is a game: you prosper and educate them and they may get out of your hold. Its best to keep them sick and then send them medicines. The obligation and gratitude keeps the dynasty strong – only BJP wallas call it exploitation. Huge farm-loan waivers made sure that the poor farmers of India and those who have interests in agriculture sector, making about 70% of India, keep supporting Congress. They don’t have an alternative anyway. Do we remember BJP for any great work done for farmers?

2.Very high support prices of farm procurements

In the last year of UPA rule, the government increased the prices at which it buys wheat and rice from the farmers. This sealed the fate of the elections. The decision was unethical because the govt purchased excess grains which would rot in the warehouses, the high prices paid was coming from tax-payer’s money, the decision was uneconomical and a poll-gimmick, and these high prices made sure that the food prices remain high even at the time of recession! But, it did benefit the farmers, even if unfairly, and they paid the govt back, in the form of their votes. You can read this editorial to know more about gravity of the problem: [Link: In the larder, not on the plate]

3.Muslim Votes

This time, some traditional political parties which used to get large share of Muslim votes were weak. Samajwadi Party, BSP, or Laloo’s RJD, and Paswan’s LJP, these smaller parties had lost their goodwill from Muslims due to taking-for-granted attitude. And then BJP’s projecting Narendra Modi as future-PM, and Varun Gandhi’s case made the Muslim votes unite under safer hands of Congress.

4.A month-long election process

It contributed towards Congress goals. Since the Congress has presence in all parts of India, it gained as it could relocate its resources well and focus on every part one by one. Since the BJP is not strongly present in all parts of India, it didn’t gain much from this prolonged election process. The initial low voting were responded well, and Congress did better in places where elections happened in later rounds.

5.Election Commission on Congress’ terms

The appointment of tainted Navin Chawla as the Chief Election Commissioner in between the election process generates a natural suspicion. Then the government could make lots of reshuffles and settings, keeping Congress interests in mind. In Mumbai for example, there were two Police Chiefs working; since the original one was not allowed to take up the election duty on corruption charges.

6.Regional parties on the downward trend

These elections saw the reduction in the clout of regional parties. It happened because these parties are family managed, and like all family managed business, they would loose focus in second generation. Public too tend to lose their interests in such parties after a period. Congress did very well in grabbing these opportunistic votes. Normally, when a voter shifts his loyalty, one would first go vote for the time-tested party and then look for alternatives. The grand old Congress was the newly shifted voters’ first choice.

7.Internal conflict within opposition

These elections started with a bad note: there was a conflict between Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh. Then the communists were at their worst these days. So were SP/BSP. DMK got through with its blind support to Srilankan Tamils and love towards LTTE, while AIADMK lost due to loss of focus. Shiv Sena was troubled by complacency and rift with MNS and BJP. BJD had broken off from BJP in Orissa. In fact, almost all political parties were in their worst shape during these elections. The outgoing govt benefited from this.

8.Economic Recession

A single very important factor was the global recession. The outgoing government had taken lots of wrong decisions in the last 5 years which had impacted our industry and economy (failure to combat inflation for example). But due to global recession, the Indian electorates were ready to pardon our own government from any charges. Recession and poor financial planning had done us much harm. People were scared of what lied in the future. In such condition, Indians thought to keep the government and economy in the safe hands of Congress: they still remember Dr. Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram when they think of economic reforms.

Did BJP do badly?

Well, these elections were not at all gloomy for BJP. The party did extremely well in states where it had a strong base and government. For example, sample this:

·BJP won 10 out of 11 parliament seats in Chhattisgarh. The lone seat went to Congress in a newly created constituency.

·BJP won 19 out of 28 seats in Karnataka, increasing its count by 1 seat.

·BJP-JDU won 27 out of 40 seats in Bihar, completely routing others. Congress won only 1 seat.

·BJP won 8 out of 14 seats in Jharkhand. Congress could win only 1; it had 6 seats in the last parliament.

·BJP won 15 out of 26 seats in Gujarat, increasing its seat count by one.

·BJP won 3 out of 4 seats in Himachal Pradesh.

·BJP doubled its seat count in Assam and won 4 seats.

The message is: the places where BJP is governing strongly have shown good faith in the party. The party can still see light at the end of the tunnel. Congress too has won surely at places where it has done good development works; e.g. Delhi and AP. The mantra for BJP’s success would be: go on rapid development in states where it is in power, and set these states as shining examples. Gradually, and at one point in future for sure, Indians will realize that there is a strong alternative to Congress in the form of nationalistic and progressive Bhartiya Janta Party.

What lies ahead for India?

After the election results, we hailed the Indian democracy. But isn’t it ironical that India has a Prime Minister who has never fought a public election? Happens in democracy? :)

Even 12 days after Dr. Manmohan Singh became the new Prime Minister, there was no government in place! Congress was taking its time, relaxing, and in no hurry to make the ministers take oath and start the governance. This is the peril of having served the throne on the platters.

We can only wish that the Congress government understands that the strong faith that the public has bestowed on them has not come for free. We can only wish, because it seems actually have come to them for free. I can see that the government would go on their relaxed attitude towards everything. It is ironical that most of the issues which couldn’t make it to be poll-issues will affect us more than those which made it to be real poll issues. In all senses, elections 2009 proved to be largely a futile exercise. With a single political party enjoying power for so long, and a single family still holding the reigns of the party, we are definitely not living in a healthy matured democracy. We could see a good functional democracy in the US when Obama came in from nowhere to become the President. To become President in India, Pratibha Patil had to be a loyal to Nehru-Gandhi family and be a Marathi first to gain support from Shiv Sena. All said and done, it seems we still have to go a long way to become a mature democracy. A democracy without awareness and education is a demi-democracy. Will wait for the next elections :)

(Rahul)

Due to some technical problem on iland, comment page doesn’t get displayed properly. I am putting the comments on moderation to check if it helps. You can write on my GB if you like, or copy the same comment on GB too…

51 comments to Election Results and Interpretation

Chemical Engineer becomes a nuclear scientist to grab vote
Yesterday I received a message from one of the candidates from Belapur constituency stating that “Right Candidate for belapur constituency Suresh Haware, Nuclear Scientist, No criminal record. He believes politics is mission not business, Navi Mumbai, BJP” a false statement to grab vote
His actual qualification mentioned in his own website is that he is a Chemical Engineer, I believe claiming to be Nuclear Scientist will attract more attention so just know ur candidate.
Ha Ha No criminal Record what a joke – He has total more than 140 criminal and civil cases against him. Several facts and articles published for his Crime Record and cases. I personally have read one:-
Acc to Police information and published article in DNA, Navi Mumbai Jan 30th 2007 “AP Police swoops at Builder’s Home to arrest Director Haware Engineers and Builders in a case of alleged fraud” So CHECK AND VOTE

4. Congress govt said Lord Ram was fiction, and they are destroying Ram Setu. While they give 900 crores to Muslims for Haj. 6. Tell me what action Pakistan has taken when Congress govt “pressurized” it. All it has done is lip-service. 7. We can”t keep worshiping Rajiv G only because he was blown-up by a terrorist. End doesnt justify the corruption that he did.

1. When Rahul G says that, it is called “claim”, we cant accept his own version of story as a fact. During these elections, he said he was not mature enough to become a PM, it is a fact. And he won”t become a minister because he will become a PM directly. He is a member of a dynasty, how can he take orders from one Dr. Singh? 2. Almost all young leaders in Congress are sons/daughters of dynasty”s servants. 3. It is a fact that criminal MPs have increased their proportion this time. Congress didn”t make criminals ministers because of media pressure. But even this doesn”t make it nice for what it did for the last 5 years.

On your prophesy that BJP is “destined to lose”, I dont take it seriously :) Thanks for your comments, and as you would agree, a lot would depend on the way we look at things. But we should “never” trust any party “blindly” – not even if the party has a stable dynasty driving it. (Rahul)

1. look i told you not to portray the loan waiver as a political gimmick. farmers required help and it was the duty of the govt to help them otherwise what would they do? the waiver has cost the treasury a bomb but yet they did it for the poor.
5. its stupid to think the EC was influenced by the congress, the EC is an autonomous body and works to the advantage of voters not contestors!
8. recession, yes to a great deal helped congress win. congress has an able economist at the helm who can single-handedly pull us out of the current economic slump. whereas BJP has an indifferent attitude towards
economy and growth, all it knows to do is divide people on basis of religion and raise a hue and cry when something good is being done by another.

the bottomline is BJP was destined to lose because of its irrational policies and strategies, i knew this from the start. the voters have grown smart over the years and have chosen smartly! :)

5. whether you believe it or not varun gandhi has been a huge factor in making the BJP lose in parts of north India. people are fed up of divisive politics and have come to understand that BJP has been shrewdly doing this for years under the pretext of protecting hindus.
6. if congress is soft on terror they wouldnt put pressure on pakistan to take action and begin the case against those accussed in the 26/11 case.
also lets not talk about nehru and rajeev gandhi, these great people have sacrificed their lives for the nation. nehru was a prophet of peace and rajeev gandhi lost his life to the LTTE, what else can a man do to prove he is opposed to terrorism. tell me one BJP leader who has put his life to risk to protect the nation?
7. vote as gifts??!! its sheer foolishness to think indian voters will give votes as gifts to the gandhi family. people have voted for them bcoz they”ve done extensive development work in their constituency.

3.congress has set a record and a gr8 example by not electing tainted ministers this term, there is not one minister who holds any kind of criminal record. people too have realised that in many ways congress is better as the number of criminals in it are way less than BJP. atleast it doesnt have ppl like modi.
4.i think congress is also way more secular than BJP. it is self explainatory why congress jumps in support of muslims and christians. the hindus are already happily flourishing in the canopy of the BJP and the ones who really need support are the other two religions. frankly the congress doesnt suppress or make spiteful remarks regarding any religion, unlike its other political counterpart which publicly makes derogatory remarks against muslims.

1. rahul gandhi is not hungry for power which he has said umpteen number of times. he didnt even take up any ministry inspite of being the biggest factor that drove congress to victory. if he wished he could even become PM but he didnt.
2. india sees congress as a young party bcoz of the fact that it IS a party of the young and for the young. after the allocation of ministerial berths you must agree with this. the senile have no place in the cabinet. if you see the oldies usually dont participate actively coz they r least interested in the country”s future, its the young who look to make a difference and it was a prudent decision to allow youngsters to take over.

I work for an organisation called “Friends of Tribals Society”. We run and manage 28,000 schools in tribal villages.This organisation is a subsidiary of the “TAINTED RSS”. The Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir has high schools all over India.Their results in the Board Exams are incredible always.Recently in the class X exams of Orissa Board 50% of the 34 students (Ranking 1st to 10th) in the Board were from this institution.THe teachers in this institution draw a salary equivalent to 1/6th of Government Schools.These Schools are RSS sponsored.
There is an endless list of similar “UGLY FACES OF RSS”. No Newspaper highlights these “UGLY FACES”. Long live pseudo secularism.

This govt is nouthing but same old wine in new bottle with attractive labels of “YOUNG BRIGADE OF RAHUL” DEVELOPMENT “ END OF NEGATIVE POLITICS” etc. etc… In this country it is fashion to show off them as broad minded..so they without thinking decide BJP as communal Congress as secular. You cannot change their mindset.. they accept M.F Husain painting God/godess’s necked in the name of freedom of expression… I bet many of ur friends who praised ur analysis here laughed at you…
Yet I will give you one credit. At least you got so many response/comments for ur write up…may be it is because they need your comment on their Blog…!!!!!!!

Last few days as i was busy so i couldn’t read your analysis of election result…1st i really disappointed with result ..i wanted badly to see Advani as PM…but at least the people voted one party and opportunistic kichadi partywalas were kicked out is BEST PART of the result………. As you wrote this election is won by congress rather lost by BJP. Congress played right kind of politics to win this election by negative campaigning abt BJP rather focusing on their performance…

I am not able to measure the role of Election Commisioner in Election Results. Present E C Naveen Chawla is like a domestic servant to Sonia. This fellow is so mean and cheap that he can go to any extent to make his boss happy.

Good analysis. You have put lot of time and energy. In my opinion, for grass route analysis statewise study should also be made — for example — in Maharastra,MNS has contributed to defeat of BJP/Shivsena –now one understands as to why there was tacit approval to activities of MNS. In Andhra Pradesh; some of the rural scheme clicked e.g. Arogyashri — villagers were able to get treatment from any Hospital free of cost. In punjab, Man Mohan Singh”s sardar factor worked. In U.P. — Mayawati has rightly pointed Punia factor for her defeat. Punia was once very close to Mayawati, he even visited Swtzerland with Mayawati. Now,Punia (I.A.S) played a big role in victory of congress in U.P. S.P. also lost atleast 10 sets owing to Azam though S.P was able to manage Rampur seat.

Nice analysis though you are an unabashed supporter of one side. I for one think that the best pm we had is Narishma Rao. The second best is Manmohan Singh and third ABV. If you see all of them were not so popular.

lots n lots of thanks……..i”m happy 4 someone has the guts to write against media created “lie truth”…Manmoha singh is indeed very very WEAK HUMBLE person and that”s the ONLY REASON he becoming a prime minister second time..Soniya Gandhi could not get a more weak person to trust…and i cant accept Rahul Gandhi emerged as leader or somthing…people wanted stable govt. so all 3rd, 4th, left votes went to CONGRESS and it is not like that people selected Manamohan singh or Rahul Gandhi…………Nice article really nice analysis of politics!!

Apke blog par comment karna – chirag ko diya dikhane jaisa hai.
Vaise yeh kamaal hai ki our PM has never faced any ellection.
As he was projected as Congress candidate for PM – he should
have faced the voters.
About BJP debacle – i should say – it”s no more a party with
difference but it”s a party with differences.
I also noted in these elections – that people voted for the
performance of state governments , like voted for Nitish in Bihar,
Modi for Gujrat , Sheela ji in Delhi , Dijvijay Singh im MP ,
Raman Kumar in Chat.garh , Naveen in Orissa , etc etc
(kuch apvaad bhi hai). In UP muslim votes are decisive factors in
most of the contstituencis and cast only anti BJP votes. Their
prime target is to defeat BJP candidate at any cost but Hindu
votes for the best option available.

@toms: I think you are talking about G20 and not G7 summit! On our economist PM, I had brought a separate blog titled “An exceptional economist) (http://rahulwrites.rediffiland.com/blogs/2009/04/06/An-exceptional-economist-1.html ) Now on your points: No one has put it so beautifully, as LK Advani had put when he said something like: “Irony is that we have a PM who has responsibility but no power; and another center (Sonia G) who has all the power but no responsibility (towards people and nation).” I hope this explains why some call him “weak”. I think the examples that you cite here prove him to be a good economist, but comment no where on his leadership.

..As such, I think Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had represented India in the G20 meet in April. Manmohan Singh couldn’t go because of health reasons. And not to forget that in the midst of worst ever global financial crisis, he was to be hospitalized and recuperated and became fit in a month. During that time, Pranab Mukherjee was given the “part time” job of handling finance ministry apart from his usual occupations. Doesn’t this tell the seriousness with which Indian govt dealt with recession? :)

@Shweta, you are shooting point-blank on the case of Vilasrao Deshmukh being made a minister. There are more like him who has been given a ministry because Congress and the Family needs their service for long time to come and wants to keep them in workable conditions… Power becomes addictive to them, we know. And so true about the point if MMS was so nice, why didn’t he dare to fight an election, even just for a change? :) (Rahul)

..So point wise, I want two explanations from you: (1) Please tell what was Manmohan Singh’s formula which the big brothers accepted, and (2) Some examples where BJP misused CBI when it was in power. Regards, (Rahul)

..Secondly on corruption, you are repeating what Rahul Gandhi had said on record: I read him with horror: ““Every party in power can pressure institutions. Every government tries to push its people into such agencies. It is a fact, it is a reality of Indian politics” . So instead of forcing his family managed government not to misuse CBI, Rahul is basically justifying the act! Honesty some times is the garb of the cowards who can’t do anything just! As such, the issue was that Rajiv Gandhi took bribe from an Italian businessman to give favor for some defense deal (Bofors), and afterwards G-family used CBI to get that businessman Quattrochi acquitted. But can you cite some examples where BJP has misused CBI? As you say, “Both have done this drama”.

..And then he went to the US and told GW Bush: “India loves you”. To save his government, a murderer like Shibu Soren was sent to Jharkhand as a CM. And Congress had to take help of SP against which it fought elections in UP. Of course his is not a politics on principles. India deserves better. But coming to the point, I would be happy to know more in case you tell what formula did he give which all world leaders accepted. I have studied economics as part of my curriculum and would love to see if he presented even a small new concept to tackle this global recession. As of now, I had an idea that recession in India is more of hype than of reality and mainly private companies have exploited this situation to gain some advantages. But I will wait till you tell what formula he had suggested and how much innovative and useful it was.

@toms: I think you are talking about G20 and not G7 summit! On our economist PM, I had brought a separate blog titled “An exceptional economist) (http://rahulwrites.rediffiland.com/blogs/2009/04/06/An-exceptional-economist-1.html ) Now on your points: No one has put it so beautifully, as LK Advani had put when he said something like: “Irony is that we have a PM who has responsibility but no power; and another center (Sonia G) who has all the power but no responsibility (towards people and nation).” I hope this explains why some call him “weak”. I think the examples that you cite here prove him to be a good economist, but comment no where on his leadership. No denying that he is a learned economist, but India needed true leadership. The only time when he has shown a leadership was when he led Indian MPs being bribed to save his government in the wake of communists’ opposition to nuclear deal with the US.

Secondly on corruption, you are repeating what Rahul Gandhi had said on record: I read him with horror: ““Every party in power can pressure institutions. Every government tries to push its people into such agencies. It is a fact, it is a reality of Indian politics” . So instead of forcing his family managed government not to misuse CBI, Rahul is basically justifying the act! Honesty some times is the garb of the cowards who can’t do anything just! As such, the issue was that Rajiv Gandhi took bribe from an Italian businessman to give favor for some defense deal (Bofors), and afterwards G-family used CBI to get that businessman Quattrochi acquitted. But can you cite some examples where BJP has misused CBI? As you say, “Both have done this drama”.

…As such, I think Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had represented India in the G20 meet in April. Manmohan Singh couldn’t go because of health reasons. And not to forget that in the midst of worst ever global financial crisis, he was to be hospitalized and recuperated and became fit in a month. During that time, Pranab Mukherjee was given the “part time” job of handling finance ministry apart from his usual occupations. Doesn’t this tell the seriousness with which Indian govt dealt with recession? :)

@Shweta, you are shooting point-blank on the case of Vilasrao Deshmukh being made a minister. There are more like him who has been given a ministry because Congress and the Family needs their service for long time to come and wants to keep them in workable conditions… Power becomes addictive to them, we know. And so true about the point if MMS was so nice, why didn’t he dare to fight an election, even just for a change? :) (Rahul)

…And then he went to the US and told GW Bush: “India loves you”. To save his government, a murderer like Shibu Soren was sent to Jharkhand as a CM. And Congress had to take help of SP against which it fought elections in UP. Of course his is not a politics on principles. India deserves better. But coming to the point, I would be happy to know more in case you tell what formula did he give which all world leaders accepted. I have studied economics as part of my curriculum and would love to see if he presented even a small new concept to tackle this global recession. As of now, I had an idea that recession in India is more of hype than of reality and mainly private companies have exploited this situation to gain some advantages. But I will wait till you tell what formula he had suggested and how much innovative and useful it was.

@toms: I think you are talking about G20 and not G7 summit! On our economist PM, I had brought a separate blog titled “An exceptional economist) (http://rahulwrites.rediffiland.com/blogs/2009/04/06/An-exceptional-economist-1.html ) Now on your points: No one has put it so beautifully, as LK Advani had put when he said something like: “Irony is that we have a PM who has responsibility but no power; and another center (Sonia G) who has all the power but no responsibility (towards people and nation).” I hope this explains why some call him “weak”. I think the examples that you cite here prove him to be a good economist, but comment no where on his leadership. No denying that he is a learned economist, but India needed true leadership. The only time when he has shown a leadership was when he led Indian MPs being bribed to save his government in the wake of communists’ opposition to nuclear deal with the US.

..So point wise, I want two explanations from you: (1) Please tell what was Manmohan Singh’s formula which the big brothers accepted, and (2) Some examples where BJP misused CBI when it was in power. Regards, (Rahul)

BJP gets its due for failing to prove that it”s the alternative to Congress. Left is taught a lesson for blackmailing a major national party and intimidating the PM. But Congress has no scope for complacence. The next Genl Election may prove to be tough. I think persons like Nitish Kumar should become PM.

Next issue was the sikh riots. It was the shoe mania which took tytler down. I agree with you that the top most probing department is under the influence of the ruling party. They curb them for their own use irrespective of BJP or Congress. Both have done this drama. After all we are used to live with corruption because we only nurtured it. What do you do when you are caught at a traffic signal. May be the challan amount is 500 bucks, but you just slip a 100 rupee note into his palms and you are free. Then who is the responsible man………We the people( its like uncle sam feeded taliban and now says that its a threat to whole world).

Hey Rahul…..
Good to see you there. I second you on some points but on some points i do disagree. First of all why dont we take the issue of a weak prime minister? You may be thinking that he is weak bcoz he didnt come up for a debate with mr.advani…….But he is the fellow who took charge authoritatively at G-7 summit. When all those big bros were crying due to economic recession, he only gave the formula and all of them accepted. We call him weak bcoz he cannot talk loud but sometimes we outrightly miss his works for the reforms. It is only bcoz of those steps, the recession has not at its worst in india(after all our market runs on the FII funds). The reforms in 90s say that outrightly. And bcoz of that our banks are strong enough to tackle recession.. He managed the situation with PC at that time..

I liked it the way u put up the complete picture of immature democracy of india. The face of indian politics is quite mutilated and yes ………with the young guns we can think of doing good to go ahead. it will definitely take a long time to make the world”s largest democracy, a mature one.

What an analysis ….. you have tried to be objective but your choice is reflecting , well nothing wrong in that. I am quite hopeful this time with more young power and more stability ….. In politics , one has to be like Chanakya(kootniti) …. as it is a very dirty game;played by all ….. as far as country”s interests are safe …. stability counts. What you have said in point one is obvious to all, but at the same time last line in point 8 is very true.

Well congress has a proud history of creating historic blunders by their super-intelligent decisions. What Ms. gandhi is doing is far less when compared to Nehru”s era. She nad her kids must work really hard to touch the level of their ancestors. Its all in the genes, to blame present Gandhi clan generation for all this, is unfair.

Even I am surprised thhe way every intellectual is singing eulogy for manmohan singh. They say its his neat/clean image. If this is so, why he did not contest election? And what is this fuss all about being negative campaign? Ever heard of an election without negative campaign? People must be talking about Satyug then. Dr Singh is mere a puppet, everyone knows that, Congress or Non-congress, thats the fact. Blame Varun for hate remarks, and his winning margin is comparable to Sonia and Rahul, and they say he defeated BJP. Everyone forgot mumbai debacle so soon, truly said, people get the gov they deserve. And what is V. Deshmukh doing in the cabinet? Wasn.t he removed after mumbai disaster? If he was incompetent then, how he can become competent with in 4-5 months? Ask Congress chief which crash course their ministers are attending to become competent?

You are absolutely right Rahul, no doubt, you have put your point very genuinely and I am agree with you. Now I will say that, this is the latest fate of India, and let’s see, how much happiness, terror and pains are hidden behind this Janta’s opinion.

You are absolutely right Rahul, no doubt, you have put your point very genuinely and I am agree with you. Now I will say that, this is the latest fate of India, and let’s see, how much happiness, terror and pains are hidden behind this Janta’s opinion.